Japan's Finance Chief Plays Down Abe's Bond Buying Remarks

By

Mitsuru Obe

Updated Feb. 19, 2013 12:24 p.m. ET

TOKYO—Japan's finance minister played down remarks by the prime minister that the government could ask the central bank to purchase foreign bonds as part of its monetary policy, saying his government hasn't made such a plan.

"We have no intention" to ask the Bank of Japan to purchase foreign bonds, Finance Minister Taro Aso said Tuesday in a regularly scheduled news conference, reiterating the ministry's long-standing...